Titanium alloys possess low density, high strength and fracture toughness, and excellent corrosion resistance, making them attractive candidates for naval structural components. It is primarily the high cost of Ti that limits its range of usage. However, a report in 2004 showed a potential of reducing the production cost of Ti by about 30% to 50% by innovations in extractive technology, leading to a revival of the motivation of making structural components with Ti alloys.
The most commonly used Ti alloy is Ti-64, which was developed in the 1950s. Although Ti-64 has a high strength, its fracture toughness and stress corrosion resistance do not meet the Navy's requirements. Targeting naval applications, a new commercial Ti alloy named Ti-5111 has been developed jointly by the U.S. Navy and TIMET in the 1980s. Compared to Ti-64, Ti-5111 has higher fracture toughness with inferior yield strength.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.